Affiliated with the international association of ...

Federal Employee The

4th Quarter 2010

For Members of the National Federation of Federal Employees

Affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO

Frozen

White House and Congress call for two-year freeze on federal pay; how the freeze will impact your bottom line. See pages 7-9

Inside this Issue

New Organizing Plan Pays Off Big . . . . . . . Pages 5-6 Forest Service Council Makes History . . Pages 11-12 Fight Back at Lobby Week 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15

William R. Dougan

From the Desk of the President

It seems lately when you watch the news on television, read a newspaper, listen to the radio, or peruse political blogs and websites, there will often be someone, or some group, bashing federal employees. The 2010 mid-term elections have brought out the worst in our elected officials, the political pundits, and the media with respect to their attacks on federal workers. Federal employees are viewed by many as easy targets on which to focus their misplaced anger regarding the economic recession and financial disarray this nation continues to experience.

Federal employees are often painted as "overpaid and underworked" and are offered up as an example of what is wrong in this country. While catchy phrases like "feds make twice as much as their private sector counterparts" may be effective in grabbing the attention of the media, such phrases have little foundation in reality. The truth is that civil servants represent some of the best of what our nation is, and should strive to become.

In 1969, I was a junior in high school. I decided I wanted to become a doctor, and began to seek out universities with good medical programs. I ended up being offered a full scholarship to the University of San Francisco Medical School as a pre-med student. But at some point in my senior year of high school, I found myself deciding that I wanted to do something different; I wanted to go to work for the federal government, working in the national forests for the U.S. Forest Service. So I turned down the free ride to USF and went to Humboldt State University to study forestry. Part of my decision was because of my love of the outdoors; but another part of that decision was a sense

of obligation that I had to give something back to my country. President Kennedy's now famous speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," hit home for many in my generation. We saw ourselves owing the country a debt for providing us the opportunities we had as we grew up in this great nation. We believed it was incumbent upon us to repay that debt in order to ensure that future generations could also be offered those opportunities. I, and many thousands like me, saw public service as a way to give back to my country. In my case, I think it is pretty clear that my decision to go to work for the government was not made for financial gain; I certainly stood to make a lot more money if I had stayed the course and became a physician.

I believe there are many motivators for why people choose a particular career; without question money is a major motivator when making choices about jobs or careers, but it is not the only motivator. Beyond the dollars, the notion of giving something back to society for the greater good helps to explain why being a civil servant is an honorable profession. Dedicated federal employees provide care for our veterans, preserve and manage our nation's natural resources, and provide the myriad of services the taxpayers of this nation expect their government to provide. I am proud of the work each one of you does on a daily basis as a federal employee and as a member of this union. Know that the work you perform is honorable and meaningful work. Attempts to categorize it anything else are malicious, misguided, or misinformed. Federal workers are the backbone of this nation.

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The Federal Employee

From the Desk of the Secretary-Treasurer

With a New Year and many new opportunities on the horizon, President Dougan, Finance Director Arnold, and I are working hard to put together a strong budget for fiscal year 2011 (as of this printing). Thanks to your support and an influx of new members, fiscal projections suggest that NFFE will be operating under a balanced budget once again. We have set our sights high this year and - pending approval by the National Executive Council - we are looking forward to building on last year's organizing and representational successes.

Our first priority in this year's budget discussions was organizing. As I've said time and time again, organizing new members is the lifeblood of our union; it is the force that empowers workers to make positive change for the federal workforce. I am proud to announce that your hard work in organizing has paid off. NFFE added nearly double the number of new members than it recruited in 2009. Building on this success, NFFE has elected to continue its $100.00 per member incentive plan through the next budget year. With the extra funds in Local treasuries, Locals will continue to have the resources they need to recruit and represent their members effectively.

Our second priority this year is improving the representational assistance coming from the NFFE National Office. Membership gains over the past year have allowed NFFE to raise the bar for representational assistance in 2011. This will allow both National and Local unions to handle more arbitrations and FLSA suits which will benefit our members.

We are also looking to continue our strong presence in the political and media landscapes. With a slew of anti-federal worker politicians entering Congress in January, we anticipate many heated political battles surrounding your pay, benefits and job security. Rest assured that we will use all of the political, legislative and communications resources necessary to fight these proposals in the halls of Congress and on the pages of the national media.

Lastly, in light of the two-year freeze on your pay, President Dougan and I have decided to freeze our own salaries, in addition to those of the National Executive Council, effective immediately. Going forward, we will all have to make sacrifices, and it is important that your elected leaders are sharing equally in that sacrifice. Though the road ahead will be arduous for us all in 2011, know that your dues dollars will be put to work to stop the anticipated attacks on federal workers.

From the Desk of the General Counsel

I am happy to report that I just completed my first year at NFFE. One of my primary missions as your General Counsel is to ensure that NFFE's Councils and Locals negotiate strong labor agreements. Just as important in collective bargaining, however, is the ability to ensure that an agency is properly applying the labor agreement and any relevant laws and regulations to its employees. These laws and agreements are only as strong as our ability to ensure that they are enforced. We are strongly committed at the NFFE National Office to assisting Councils and Locals with enforcement.

One of the reasons I am excited about the new organizing efforts is that they will allow Locals to more quickly get the resources they need to enforce the laws and agreements. Along those lines, if every NFFE Local is aggressively building its

membership, NFFE National will have more resources to assist Councils and Locals. My goal in the upcoming year is to strengthen the ability of NFFE National to assist Locals in enforcing their contracts.

I am also using the Office of General Counsel to assist Locals in other ways. I am more than willing to work with advocates prior to going to arbitration to make sure they are fully prepared. This includes reviewing the grievance package, developing witness lists, and identifying exhibits. I also encourage Councils and Locals to have me review arbitration awards and to handle any post-arbitration filings with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Employees will be best served when NFFE, at all of its levels, works together to make sure they are properly represented.

4th Quarter 2010

William D. Fenaughty

Stefan Sutich 2

Randy Erwin 3

From the Desk of the Legislative Director

In the fall, I predicted that attacks on federal workers' pay and benefits would come fast and furious in the new Congress this January. But it turns out that it didn't take that long - the attacks have already begun.

two-year pay freeze for federal employees. While NFFE and other federal worker advocates cried foul, Republican leaders in Congress said the pay freeze was not enough. They want the cuts to federal employees to go much deeper.

Shortly after the election this November, in which the Republican Party seized control of the House of Representatives, the Administration announced a

Sadly, this is just a small sample of what we have coming in 2011. There are many in Congress who do not understand the amazing work that federal

Legislative

Long-Awaited Telework Bill Becomes Law

In November, Congress passed the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, H.R. 1722, a bill that requires agencies to develop telework programs for eligible employees. The measure passed by a 254-152 vote and was sent to President Obama for his signature. Obama signed the bill into law on December 9th, thereby delivering a concrete telework policy for the federal workforce.

The legislation mandates that federal agencies determine which employees are eligible for telework and establish regulations under which they would be able to work remotely. To oversee the new program, each agency is required to appoint a telework managing officer. Furthermore, the legislation requires agencies to incorporate the new telework program into their continuity of operations plan for natural or security emergencies.

Participants of

Implementation of the new policy is estimated to cost $30 million over the next five years, a sum which will undoubtedly pay for itself over time. Just last winter, when a snowstorm blanketed the nation's capital in two feet of snow, telework-eligible employees saved the government an estimated $30 million in productivity, while many of their co-workers were snowed-out of their offices. During that same period, the federal government lost more than $350 million in productivity from workers who were unable to telework. According to GSA estimates, if implemented, the policy could save the federal government $2.3 billion annually through increased productivity.

Sponsored by Reps. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Gerald E. Connolly (DVA), the bill includes a number of cost and workplace efficiencies that would benefit both the federal workforce and the American taxpayer. With more employees working from home, roads would be less clogged, pollution lessened, and many employees would be better able to address the challenges of working-parenthood. Fiscally speaking, federal agencies would save on utilities, office space, parking arrangements, transit subsidies, and others costs associated with housing on-site employees.

"Good-government policies like telework help the government recruit and retain top talent, save money, and increase productivity," said NFFE National President William R. Dougan. "All around, this bill is a win-win for federal workers and taxpayers."

The Federal Employee

employees do for this country. They have bought into this false narrative that federal workers are lazy, overpaid paperpushers, when nothing could be further from the truth. They actually think that if they lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers and slash the pay and benefits for those who remain, the federal government will be just fine. They just don't get it.

Brothers and sisters, we must start to go on the offensive to defend the noble work we do for the American people, and to counter the misinformation that is being spread to perpetuate the false stereotypes.

This cannot happen just from Washington, D.C. It needs to happen everywhere throughout the country. We need stories in your local paper about the great work

federal employees in your community are doing. We need stories about how important federal jobs are to the communities in which you live. It can only happen with your initiative to make it happen.

If we don't get out there and tell that side of the story, nobody will. We need to do it. We each need to take responsibility for doing it. And we can't wait another day.

While DoD is getting close to finishing the transition out of NSPS, it is also working with NFFE and other unions representing Defense workers to rework performance management, hiring, and workplace incentives at the Department. DoD was given authority in the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization Act (the same bill that repealed NSPS) to make Department-wide changes in these three areas.

the "New Beginnings" DoD labor-management conference meet in Los Angeles, CA.

A New Beginning for Defense Workforce

The Department of Defense (DoD) has exceeded its goal of transitioning the majority of National Security Personnel System (NSPS) workers back under existing pay systems. According to the NSPS Transition Team, about 172,000 of the 226,000 NSPS-covered workers have been reassigned. Approximately 75 percent of the transitioned employees have been moved under the General Schedule.

When Congress terminated the controversial personnel system in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act, they gave DoD until January of 2012 to completely dismantle the system and return all employees to existing pay systems. In April of this year, transition leader John H. James announced that the majority of workers were expected to be transitioned by the close of fiscal year 2010. At this point, it seems probable that the full transition deadline of January 1, 2012, will be met. This continued progress proves that the Office has kept its promise to put an end to the anti-worker, anti-union personnel system once and for all.

4th Quarter 2010

From September 20-23, about 200 representatives of federal unions, DoD, and the Office of Personnel Management met in Los Angeles, CA to brainstorm ideas. Called the "New Beginnings" conference, this gathering was the first significant labor-management conference at DoD since President Obama signed Executive Order 13522 in May of 2010 establishing labor-management forums throughout the federal government.

NFFE and the IAM were well represented at the conference, with 15 representatives from our union in attendance. Our representatives at the conference were able to share their experiences and the experiences of their Local members, giving all the DoD workers represented by NFFE and the IAM a real voice in the development of potential reforms.

"We were very pleased with the approach taken by DoD at this conference," said NFFE Legislative Director Randy Erwin, who was in attendance at the conference. "DoD was not pushing any ideas whatsoever. I believe it earned the Department a lot of trust from labor. It was a critical first step in the direction of real collaborative reform."

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